Redwood Asylum (emeritus)

Laura Winterbottom Update

Sun, 23 Oct 2005 04:18:07 GMT

For information regarding the March 2005 murder of Laura Winterbottom in Burlington Vermont, see my consolidated index page on the new Redwood Asylum TypePad site.

Elvis Has Left The Building

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 04:44:05 GMT

Let the word go forth to all my Radio weblog category sites. And let the word likewise be cast upon the RSS waters that those both near and far may hear the news.

This incarnation of Redwood Asylum has been retired. But let not the news weigh heavily upon thee. Know ye that nonsense and drivel spring forth anew in these TypePad locations:

Redwood Asylum: same old stuff with a new RSS feed
Random Analytics: web analytics and a new RSS feed

Oh, and the Elvis expression?

Upgraded TypePad Trial

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 06:24:54 GMT

Upgraded my TypePad trial account from Basic to Plus.

Spent a lot of time troubleshooting problems with Radio UserLand post exporting. Finally decided the issue was probably not in Bill Kearney's exporter tool, but in the Radio UserLand database.

Deleted several old posts from an unpublished category and deleted the category. Deleted several other old categories which were no longer needed. Ran the TweezerMan script to rebuild internal category story lists. Used the Radio application option to save a new copy of weblogData.root. Shut down Radio, swapped in the new copy of weblogData.root and restarted. Bill Kearney's exporter ran fine, dumping over 1700 posts into a Movable Type format file.

Re-worked the TypePad test site several times, dumping the earlier partial import and loading the full 1700 post file. TypePad isn't nearly as flexible as Movable Type, but I don't think I need extensive customization. However, I do have an account at Total Choice Hosting where I could test Movable Type.

Many have moved to (perceived) greener pastures after Radio UserLand. Will I follow The Shifted Librarian, TweezerMan and Phil Windley to Movable Type? I watched Ernie the Attorney move from Radio to TypePad. If my TypePad testing proceeds without major incident, maybe I'll buy the first year. If I don't like the Project Comet evolution, I can always jump to Movable Type later.

Time will tell.

TypePad Trial

Thu, 13 Oct 2005 06:06:12 GMT

After three and a half years with Radio UserLand, I'm testing something new. I opened a 30-day free trial TypePad account this evening, starting with the Basic version. Using Google, I located Bill Kearney's exporter tool for Radio UserLand. Although I'm having problems, I was able to export enough Radio posts to test the TypePad import feature. Time will tell.

Continued Radio Pain

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 06:16:37 GMT

I have not posted personal items here for a long time. There are many things I could mention, and back-date to their proper position in the weblog, but I won't. The Radio UserLand software does not provide this feature out of the box. A workaround exists, which I've documented before, but it is fragile and annoying.

When shut down, Radio still crashes 50% of the time. My hopes for increased stability in the new version went unanswered. This is probably an issue with the underlying Frontier kernel, since Dave Winer's OPML Editor does the same thing.

Although UserLand recently updated the Radio software, the company is getting by on a wing and a prayer. Much of the coding is now done by volunteers. On the other hand, the software is reasonably priced. A painful tradeoff.

When Six Apart releases Project Comet in 2006, I'll have a hard choice to make. I would not be the first to leave UserLand for SixApart, and certainly not the last.

Recent Events

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 06:00:34 GMT

Misty (our chihuahua) turned 10 on 9/23/05. Congratulations to Crystal and Nate, who celebrated their third anniversary on 9/21/05. Crystal and Nate moved back in with us last month. Bryan recently bought his first new car, a blue MINI Cooper, and attended the Black Hat and DEF CON gatherings.

Mesquite and the Skunk Dance

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 04:52:48 GMT

Not to be outdone by Dave and Oka, Mesquite (the chow-lab) decided to dance with a skunk while Nate walked the dogs late last night. Life in the redwood forest isn't always a bed of roses, nor does it smell like one.

And Turbo Makes Four

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 04:32:17 GMT

On Wednesday, Crystal and Nate brought home a 6-week old jack russel terrier, which they named Turbo. They will housebreak and train Turbo before delivering him to Nate's grandparents in Nevada.

We now have four dogs on the property. Misty, the long-haired chihuahua, stays in the house with Maria and me. The new jack russell terrier (Turbo), the shitzu (Bebe), and the chow-lab (Mesquite) live downstairs in the garage and adjoining bonus room. Now that the rear retaining wall is finished, Nate can finish fencing a small area behind the house for Mesquite.

Basecamp adds authenticated RSS feeds

Sat, 24 Sep 2005 01:43:19 GMT

From Donovan Watts

I've been a Basecamp user and believer from the start. One of the things I like best is that I am notified via my news reader and RSS every time there is activity on my project site. The only problem is that the feeds were not authenticated. Ugh. Now they are. 37 Signals is improving Basecamp all the time and I'm a very happy customer.

We could use authenticated RSS feeds at work to publish secure content from our extranet with the side benefit of improved web metrics for the RSS feeds.

Perking Up Interest in Web Analytics

Fri, 23 Sep 2005 07:32:41 GMT

From Shane Atchison at ClickZ

Last time, I discussed the gap between overall corporate strategic goals and the goals typically assigned to the Web channel. Most basic Web metrics aren't as important as establishing key performance indicators (KPIs) tailored to your business. Management must receive and evaluate those reports on a regular basis.

Content Syndication Conference - RSS HackFest

Fri, 23 Sep 2005 05:26:16 GMT

Don't miss the Syndicate conference, produced by IDG World Expo, scheduled for December 12-14 in San Francisco. If content syndication via RSS is on your roadmap, plan to attend.

How to Use a Podcast to Promote a White Paper That Generates New Business Sales Leads

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 09:01:13 GMT

While I'm on the podcast topic, one last MarketingSherpa item.

Paul Dunay, director of Global Field Marketing for BearingPoint (NYSE:BE), needed to market their Sarbanes-Oxley white paper to top executives in the Global 2000. He added a podcast to his standard marketing toolkit. Did he like the results? Maybe you should visit MarketingSherpa for the details.

Hint? There are now podcasts on Data Security and Operational Risk available at BearingPoint, with a quote from Christopher Formant, executive vice president, Global Financial Services.

Will this happen at my company? Well... I can dream, can't I?

MarketingSherpa Podcast

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 08:36:57 GMT

As mentioned before, I don't post much about podcasts. They "just work" and, as with RSS, you either "get it" or you don't. Earlier this month I celebrated my one-year podcast listening anniversary. BFD. This isn't one of those "I've been listening longer than you have" prick-waving contests. However, since I've been lax about posting MarketingSherpa items, I wanted to note that Anne Holland plans a podcast for this fall.

Hurry up, Anne, I'm ready when you are.

MarketingSherpa's 10 Best Blogs for 2005

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 08:25:40 GMT

While looking through MarketingSherpa archives, I noticed their marketing blog awards post from June. Although I mentioned it personally to several people at the time, I never posted a link here. Now I have.

The Surprising Truth About PDFs & Audio Downloads

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 07:41:26 GMT

PDF marketing tips from MarketingSherpa

PDFs may not be that new, but they are new enough that some executives in corporate America are still confused by them. So, now we've begun automatically shipping a printed copy with most Sherpa Guide PDF orders, even though it costs us more, to make sure customers are happy.

Read the details. Go on. Shoo.

Top Three Search Marketing Trends to Watch in 2006

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 07:29:46 GMT

Executive summary, free from MarketingSherpa

If search marketing is a significant portion of your budget (or you suspect it may be soon) this new MarketingSherpa Executive Summary is a quick and useful read.

RSS Vendor Space

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 02:20:32 GMT

From Rok Hrastnik at MarketingServices.net

Richard MacMannus takes a good look at the RSS vendors space, giving special attention to the search category.

I was especially interested in reading his break-down of the RSS publisher services vendors:

Publisher Services
Sub-categories: Content; Analytics; Feed Mgmt; Advertising Examples: Feedburner; Nooked; Pheedo; SimpleFeed; Syndicate IQ

Web Analytics Newsletter - September 2005

Sat, 17 Sep 2005 04:34:32 GMT

The September edition of Hurol Inan's Attuned web analytics newsletter is available. Hurol's site has a new section dedicated to understanding RSS metrics and analysis.